Fullmetal Alchemist: Differing Points of View
by Blaze0010
Summary: This is a FanFic of Fullmetal Alchemist with a few changes. Co-written by Frozen in Flight
1. Depression

**DISCLAIMER**

Fullmetal Alchemist is owned by Hiromu Arakawa and FUNimation. I own nothing bar my own characters, except for Arc. He's owned by a very **special** friend. :D

This takes place after Greed, After the party meet Ling, and after they discover Hughes has died. Enjoy!

* * *

Jean pulls the car up. "Okay, Elric brothers. Here's the hotel. Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Havoc." Al says politely, glancing at the two depressed blondes, who mutter half-heartedly the same thing.

Winry rubs already tear red eyes and sniffles once, before heading into the hotel. Ed blinks, giving a half hearted wave before following Winry with his hands in his pockets.

"... Sorry." Al follows

"Not a problem. Try not beating yourself up too much!" He tries to give a cheery smile, but he's obviously devastated, too. "Well...Later..." He starts to put the car in gear to drive off.

"Come on, brother. Winry. Lets go check in." Al says, trying to sound cheery

"...Yeah." Ed says, trying to pick up his feet a bit more on his way in, but giving up after a few paces

The receptionist looks up. "Ah! You must be Edward Elric's party." He says. "I regret to say that we only have three rooms available. We can give one to Miss Winry Rockbell, but would the two of you mind sharing with two other guests?"

Ed blinks looking up, almost ready to protest, before glancing at Winry. "... Yeah. I guess."

"Okay. That's great. Major Edward Elric, you'll be sharing with Colonel Volke Mikawa and Mr. Alphonse Elric will be sharing with Mr. Arc Shaon."

"...Tch." Ed grimaces a little. "... what room number?"

"Miss Rockbell, Room 503. Maj. Elric, 504 and Mr. Elric 505. Enjoy your stay." The receptionist hands over the keys.

Ed nods, both brothers taking up the keys in question and walking with Winry to the floor and rooms in question

Al sighs. "I'm sure we'll all feel better after a good night's sleep." He says, ever the optimist. "Well, good night, brother, Winry." He opens the door to his allocated room.

"G'night, Al, Winry." Ed mutters, heading over to his. Al walks in on a man with red hair in the middle of pulling a pair of pyjama pants on. "...."

"..." Al freezes. "Aaah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He backs out of the room, shutting the door. "…"

there's a bit of fabric scrambling before the door opens again. "You're Elric?" the man asks. He'd put on a loose shirt as well as having his pants all of the way on.

"Y-Yes...Al-Alphonse Elric. And I am SO Sorry!!" The armoured boy repeats for the third time

"If you're a guy, then it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Arc Shaon." Arc opens the door fully, walking back toward the bed and gathering what could only be his belongings off the bed.

Al hesitantly walks in, still sounding kinda embarrassed. Ed walks in on a man reading. He's dressed in the same uniform as Roy Mustang. He adjusts his glasses slightly, looking up at the newcomer. "Ah. You're Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, correct?"

"... Yeah." Ed mutters, taking his coat off and looking more or less at the ground.

The man stands, walking over. "Col. Volke Mikawa, the Flash Fire Alchemist. Pleased to meet you." He offers a hand.

Ed frowns, taking his hand with his.

Volke frowns lightly. "You still depressed about the Brigadier General's death?" He smiles lightly. "Gotta move on, Fullmetal. Can't mope about the past forever."

"Shut up." Ed mutters, moving past to drop himself on the couch

"Did I say something wrong?" Volke says, frowning lightly, picking up his book and slotting a bookmark in.

Volke sighs. "I order you to answer me."

"... Shut up, Fork."

"...It's Volke...Fullmetal Midget." Seems that hit a major nerve with the Colonel

Ed lifts his head to glare at him. "Who are you calling a speck of dust." it doesn't even have the usual heat to it, given he's still sitting there

"Who are you calling a eating utensil?!" Volke replies

"You!"

"Well, I'm calling you a speck of dust, Major!"

"Shut up!" Ed shouts

"Oh, yeah?! Come and make me, runt!" Volke shouts. In the next room, Al sighs. "Brother's fighting again..." He can hear the muffled shouts through the wall.

*"...With the fork kid, sounds like." Arc mutters, his head against the wall as he eavesdrops.

*"Fine!" Ed jumps up, then takes a good look at Volke, and pales.

"..." Volke tenses, taking his glasses off as not to break them. "What?!"

"... You look like..." Ed backs up.

"..." Volke sighs. "He was my uncle. Albeit an estranged one until the Ishbalan war..."

"..." Ed scowls at the floor.

"I would have thought family members would have got over it slower than everyone else." Volke comments.

"I found out today, damn it!"

"...!" Volke pales slightly. "O-Oh..." It seems he doesn't have anything to say.

"We came back from Rush Valley. Winry wanted him to try her apple pie." Ed mutters, sitting again. "So shut up."

"Ah...Aunt Gracia gave her the recipe?" Volke asks. "H-How is she? And little Elicia? I-I haven't had the time to..."

"...." Ed covers his eyes with his metal hand. "Elicia's still waiting for him to come home from work..." Ed sounds like he was choking up a bit. "We apologized..." Arc pushes off the wall, sticking his thumbs in his waistband. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." he says to Al. "you want the bed?"

Al looks as depressed as a suit of armour can get but still manages to sound cheery. "No, no. You can have it, sir." He says. Volke frowns. "Why did you apologise? It wasn't your fault."

"...." Ed says nothing. "I'm not a sir." Arc waves a hand, dropping onto the bed.

"...Fine. Be that way." Volke sighs. "You can have the bed. I'm fine on the sofa." Al moves over to the sofa, lying down, barely fitting on it. "G-Good night, s...Arc."

"G'night Armoured Elric." Arc says, throwing a shoe to turn the light off. "... OK." Ed relocates to the bed.

"G'night, Fullmetal..." Volke strips down to his vest and boxers, flicking the light off before curling up under a blanket on the sofa.


	2. Perverts!

A window opens and someone pulls themselves onto the ledge.

Volke tenses slightly, but still snores softly, seemingly asleep.

Whoever it is steps into the room lightly, and seems to be looking about by the sounds of something against fabric. They move further in

Volke suddenly sits bolt upright. He touches a transmutation circle on his right hand. The centre and smallest circle glows slightly before the alchemist clicks his fingers and a small explosion detonates around the intruder's feet. The soldier stands, grabbing a revolver from its holster on his belt.

By voice, it's a man as he gives a muffled shout, perhaps a yelp, and stumbles back.

"Hold it!" Volke yells, pointing the gun at the figure. The explosion has woken a few people as some startled voices can be heard in the hallway.

"Crap, this isn't-" the man has long blue hair looks about.

The door to Ed and Volke's room opens with a seven foot tall suit of armour in the door way. "Brother!"

Ed is also awake, blinking and then on his feet with his arm blade formed. Arc stands in the door way as Al moves in.

Volke flicks the light on. Obviously, a man standing in vest, boxers and socks isn't all that intimidating. He glares at the intruder. "Who are you?!"

"I see no need to introduce myself to a man in his underwear." the blue haired man snaps. He is fully dressed, unlike everyone but Al.

"Oi!" Ed shouts, clapping his hands

Volke snarls, lowering the gun to tap the inner circle once more, snapping his fingers. Another small explosion happens near the man's feet. "How about a man that can blow your leg off?!"

"... Still no." the man jumps back a bit. "In fact..." His hands race with crackling light.

"Cover your eyes!" Arc shouts, doing as he says before the blue haired man makes something that sounds like a cannon shot and looks like a flash bang.

Volke covers his eyes. "Ungh...A flash grenade!" He tries to squint through the bright light that ensues.

"If that's what you'd like to think!" the man shouts, before his footsteps vanish.

"... He jumped out the window." Al says.

Volke quickly runs to the window, looking out. "Dammit!" He curses, slamming a fist into the wall. He seems a bit...Different.

"Brother. Are you okay?" Al asks, walking over to Ed's bed.

Winry pokes her head into the room. "What's going on? I heard explosions..."

"Just a bit of a pervert, we're fairly sure." Arc tries to smile re-assuringly. It still needs a bit of work - maybe if he showed less teeth.

"Volke sent him out." Ed sticks his head out the window for a sec.

Winry shivers slightly at Arc's smile. "You kinda look like a shark..." She says.

"I'd rather have captured the bastard..." Volke mutters, flopping back on the sofa to holster his gun.

"A Pervert...? On Ed?" Al seems slightly confused at this thought.

"He said something about 'this isn't-' upon getting in." Ed mutters. "I think. I wasn't quite awake."

Arc puts a hand over his smile, looking like he was trying to picture it. "Guess I need to practice more." he shrugs, eyes trailing to Volke. "I think someone's grumpy." Arc then returns to his room

"I don't like using alchemy so soon after I wake up..." Volke mutters, looking to Ed. "I take it you're okay?

"Yeah." Ed says, transmuting his hand back to normal.

"So, he didn't mean to get this room." Winry guesses. "... I'm going to lock my window." she mutters.

"I would, Winry." Al agrees, before walking back to his room. Volke flicks the light of before flumping back onto the sofa.


	3. Scar Attack!

Volke is walking swiftly down an alleyway in Central. He wears a beigey trench-coat over his Amestrian uniform and white gloves to hide the transmutation circles. He barely pauses as he walks.

"Flash Bang Alchemist, Volke... You have turned your back against God and shall now be punished." Volke stops. A large man stands before him.

"Its 'Flash Fire,' and it's nice to meet you, too..." He looks up. "... Scar." Scar merely cracks the knuckles of his right hand and reaches for Volke. Volke jumps back, stripping his gloves. He touches the middle circle, causing it to glow. He snaps his fingers, and the ground beneath Scar explodes. Scar lunges for Volke through the dust cloud of the explosion, his boots rather damaged.

"For your acts in the Ishbalan war, I will cast god's judgement upon you!" Scar announces, reaching for him again.

Volke ducks, aiming to knee Scar in the gut. "Fear not. I tend to repent fully for that genocidal war... But at my appointed time~" Scar moves his own knee up for Volke's face, his right hand dropping. Volke grabs Scar's arm, managing to dodge the knee.

"Well, this looks wrong." He smirks at the Ishbalan. Scar scowls at him, doing something that might look like a show-off like dance move to kick for Volke's face with his other leg and using his left hand as a balance. Volke gets knocked back by the kick, his nose breaking with a sickening crack. He gasps, touching the middle circle and cracking his fingers. A wall close to Scar explodes, throwing rubble at him. Rubble that Scar doesn't brush off is met with his right hand, creating further dust for him to lunge dramatically through after the state alchemist.

"Ghnk. You bastub..." Volke says, his broken nose affecting his speech. He, again, ducks Scar's lunge, trying to head butt his crotch. Scar grunts, managing not to completely double over as that hit works, but he does stagger back.

Volke stands, running around to elbow Scar in the small of his back. "I learned at an early age that fighting clean gets you nowhere." Scar snarls, falling down. His hand is first down, however, and he destroys the ground under both Volke and himself, throwing up dust and rubble. He uses this to back off a bit.

"Ghk..." Volke backs off, stumbling against a slab of rubble. "Damn..." He can't see the Ishbalan. Scar uses this to come in with a heavy left punch. He's realized he needs to whack Volke about a bit first. Volke yelps as he is knocked to one side by Scar's punch. Scar kicks him in the opposite direction, causing Volke to yell out as Scar kicks him in the gut. He throws up, the spew stained red.

"I will give you a moment to pray." Scar says, cracking his knuckles. Volke groans, throwing up once more, flopping down to the ground. As Scar approaches the downed alchemist, a clapping sound can be heard and suddenly a fist flies out of the nearest wall. A fist of stone.

Scar jumps back, away from his target and the stone fist. "Scar!" Ed shouts. "Over here! Colonel, get to it!"

"... Using me..." Mustang vanishes.

Al uses the distraction to run around to Volke. "Colonel! Are you okay?" He asks, kneeling by the man. Scar scowls, and rushes Ed. Ed uses alchemy quickly to avoid getting grabbed, but is only staying a tiniest bit outside of Scar's reach. Volke groans, sitting up and holding his head, wiping blood from his mouth.

"No." Is his curt reply.

"Here." Al puts his arms under Volke's and starts moving away. "Brother's distracting him. Let's move yo-!" Al manages to yelp as one of Scar's swipes touches the ground and destroys it near them.

Volke grunts as he slams the ground. "Nnngh...Your brother is a small distraction..."

Ed gets a rage-boost to his alchemy and speed. "I heard that, Fork!" Ed screams as he launches a row of stone fists at Scar, which were destroyed with a swipe of the Ishbalan's hand.

"It's Volke!" the injured colonel yells. Al mutters about matching personalities as he picks Volke back up. Scar continues chasing after Ed, as Volke was Injured Prey. Ed yelps as he trips going backwards as Scar lunges in for the kill. Volke grunts, managing to tap the large circle. He clicks his fingers, causing an explosion behind Scar. As Scar whirls, thinking it's Roy again, the annoying Flame Alchemist, flail-like tendrils of metal lash out through the explosion's dust cloud.

"And here I thought Silver and Gold could keep you away." Arc mutters, shifting away from the explosion. The metal comes from inside his seen-better-days hoodie.

Volke bangs on Al's back. "Hold up, armoured Elric. I wanna watch this, and I can help from afar."

"Oh...okay." Al replies, a little bit hesitant.

Scar turns to Arc. "Are you a state alchemist?"

"Hmmm... no." Arc scratches the side of his head, the tendrils returning to him - they seemed to come from his sleeves. "But, you know, 'alchemists serve the people'... not that anyone really holds to it...but, they're people too." His slasher-smile fits this situation.

"I have no quarrel with you, Alchemist, but if-"

"Arc." Ed groans.

"Arc...?" Volke says, watching the man. "Why is he involved...?"

"... I will bring god's wrath down on you if you interfere." Scar finishes, ignoring Arc's interruption.

"If you can." Arc's got his smile fixed in place and the metal comes back out of his sleeves, five tendrils for Scar and one to swirl about him. Scar moves back as the first stabs for his feet, but the other four move after him.

"You use steel?" Scar sounds admonishing as he twists away.

Ed blinks watching. "Wait...Arc's an Alchemist?"

"Yes! Is your brain as small as your stature?"

"Shaddup, Fork!"

"Nice comeback. Short and sweet." Ed growls at this.

"Ahh, yeah, steel." Arc scratches his nose. Scar pushes his palm to the tendril he just avoided, and then jumped back as the other three turned for him. About a third of it falls away, and that one shortens, repairing itself.

".. some of it." Arc finishes. Scar looks annoyed as he avoids the tendrils, but they stop moving after him at a certain range.

".. You have a range." Scar notes. Volke concentrates on the back of Scar's knees, tapping the small circle. A visible note of blue alchemy energy is present as he snaps his fingers, causing an explosion to send Scar back into the range. Scar snarls, having to drop roll and dodge to avoid getting stabbed by the tendrils of metal. He does get a small cut from the fourth, which had grown back to full length again.

"If you want to think that, go ahead." Arc says, still grinning like a shark. A lead pipe by his feet was shrinking.

Ed stares at the pipe, then at Arc, his eyes lighting up as he realises. "Ooooooh."

"Finally twigged, Fullmetal pipsqueak!" Volke yells at Ed. The young alchemist shoots a glare at Volke, but doesn't retort. Next time Scar tries going out of Arc's supposed range, the tendrils follow. There's a second which an, almost comical, 'oh shit' expression crosses the Ishbalan's face, before he resumes dodging. Arc is physically doing an awful lot of just standing there and watching Scar, until Scar reaches and touches the building he stood against, causing it to crumble over Arc.

"You ass!" Arc yells, as he disappears out of sight.

Volke blinks. "That Scar is a crafty bastard..." Scar watched after the rubble settled, but Arc didn't re-appear. Ed quickly gets back to his feet and kicks the tripping bit of debris out of his way, guessing that Scar would go back after him. How did he know. Scar backs Ed into an alley. Ed trips, the gun Lt. Hawkeye had given him some time ago falls out of his pocket. He avoids Scar and gets back up, but he trips again, stumbling to the ground.

Ed stares up at Scar, growling. "Why did you kill them? Why did you kill the Amestrian doctors?"

Scar freezes, blinking. It's as though he's surprised Ed knows of this. "A-Anything I say is an excuse."

"Excuse or not! How can you stand there and claim to be God's judge when you're just as worse as the State Alchemists you claim to hate?" Ed yells. "You killed the Rockbells!"

Ed freezes suddenly, looking to his right. "W-Winry..."

Winry is standing there, the blonde young girl looking horrified. "H-He...H-He killed my parents!" Within a few seconds, before Ed can react, Winry has the gun Ed dropped in her hands. It's pointing at Scar. Her blue eyes opened wide, the gun quivering in her hands.

"W-Winry! No! Don't!" Ed says, reaching forward.

Winry stares blankly at him. "H-He killed my parents..." She says again.

Ed runs to her side, standing in the path of the gun. "Winry... Don't do this..." He searches for a way to change her mind. "R-Remember that baby at Rush Valley? And my arm! Your hands don't kill...They give life!" There's a commotion off to the side which is Al and Volke attempting to dig Arc out of the rubble.

"Mr. Arc! Are you okay?" Al is managing to be quiet while still sounding like he's yelling.

"I can't move." Arc's voice is rightfully muttered.

"Is something broken?" Al asks, worriedly.

"Yes. It's called the wall."

"Oh, we have a smart ass." Volke mutters, digging as much as he can with his injuries until he throws up more blood. They come across a weaving of the metal tendrils. Arc is crowded under it, in the foetal position.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He stays put while Al shifts more of the rubble."Ah, hey. Scar. He's still here." Arc pokes his head from the rubble. "You might want to get Mr Anti-sarcasm away before he's hurt more." Volke wipes blood from his mouth, glaring at Arc. Arc offers his shark-like smile. He's mostly dusty, with a handful of bruises visible.

"Scar's a bit...still here." Arc points out.

"Ah, well, see..." Al sounds a bit embarrassed. "We needed him to be- oh!" A flare goes up.

"Are you telling me that I nearly died because of your two-bit plot to attract Scar? What for? You two still suicidal?" Volke seems kinda pissed off.

"I think you nearly died because Scar was in the area." Arc points out. Now that they know he's an alchemist, his metal-threads are visible and sitting loosely about him.

"But Scar wouldn't be in this area, if they hadn't lured him here." Volke counter-argues. "'Edward Elric, fantastic and super state alchemist'."

"If he hadn't come to them, you might have run into him in a different part of the city, where the Elric's wouldn't have been here to save your ass." Arc quips back, amazingly quick. Volke twitches at this, obviously thinking of some way to come back, but failing. Arc notices, a smug look now crossing his face.

"Um..." Al looks between the two. "We need to get Mr. Volke to a doctor... and Mr. Arc-"

"I think I want to stick around. You two are interesting. Three. ... Four, if you count the blonde girl."

"I'm staying! Urp..." He coughs up more blood, slumping slightly.

"I think I agree with silver. You need a doctor." Arc indicates Al.

"... why are you calling me silver?"

"Because you're brother's gold." Arc replies simply. Volke mutters to himself, wiping his mouth, groaning. Arc pulls him to his feet. ".. Wait, does this mean I have to take him to a doctor?"

"Uhhh..." Is the only response from the colonel. Volke seems to dangle a bit. He looks as though he's lost a bit too much blood to argue.

Arc takes his as a 'yes, that would be great.' "Wonderful." the metal vanishes back into his hoodie. "C'mon." Arc half-carries, half-walks the man out of the alleyway, looking around. He spots a man getting out of a car nearby and walks towards him.

"Hey, excuse me! Can you help us? I got an injured soldier over here! He needs to see a doctor or go to the hospital or something." Arc calls, getting the man's attention.

The young man looks from a bruised and battered Arc to a slowly bleeding Volke. "Uh, Uhm, s-sure. O-Of course." The man helps Volke into the back seat of his car, the soldier slowly blacking out as they race towards the hospital.


	4. Of Muscles and Men

A few days later, after Scar's attack on Central, finds Col. Mikawa recovering in hospital. One rainy afternoon, when the man had been relaxing, he was disturbed by the door slamming open.

"I HAVE HEARD YOU ARE UNWELL, COLONEL VOLKE!" Major Armstrong walks through the door. "MAY THE SIGHT OF MY PERFECT BODY CHEER YOU INTO FURTHER RECOVERY!" he flexes and his shirt spontaneously vanishes.

Volke stares a bit, a very disturbed look across his face. "A-Ah. Major Armstrong...Y-You shouldn't have bothered."

"Do not fear, Colonel, for the sight of my perfectly sculpted muscles has aided many a soldier into full health!" Major Armstrong almost seems like he's going to hug Volke

Volke twitches slightly, still recovering from several broken bones. He edges back slightly. "I'm sure they have."

The door opens. Armstrong glances, then his eyes widened and he straightened into a salute. "Führer!"

"Stand down, Major." the one-eyed man smiled at Volke. "Do you like melons?"

Volke's eyes widen and he sits to more or less attention. "Führer B-Bradley." He stammers slightly, obviously surprised at Amestris' ruler coming to visit. He blinks at the question. "Y-Yes, sir. I do."

"Oh, good. I had brought one for the Brother's Elric, and there was a sale, so I thought I'd stop by and give you the other." he hands Volke a melon in a net-bag.

"T-Thank you very much, sir." He frowns slightly at the mention of the Elric brothers. "H-How are they, sir? They didn't get too hurt fighting against Scar, right?" He seems a bit worried about the two.

"No, they're fine." The door opens in and in comes Arc. His hoodie has been stolen, and like many people in Amestris, he wore a black tank under it. it showed spirals of metal on his upper arms.

"Hide me." he dives under Volke's bed

"...Arc?" He asks, cautiously, he then looks at Bradley. "A-Ah, my friend seems not to have noticed you, Führer..." He states the name in the hope that Arc gets the picture of who is in the room.

"..." Arc sticks his head out from under the bedsheets. "... Hello sir." He doesn't try to smile. "Reporters scare me. And they won't leave me alone."

Bradley sort of just watched him for a bit, then smiled. "You're the one who helped take down Scar, Mr. Arc Shoan."

"that'd be me sir." Arc agrees

Volke blinks, seeming surprised at the Führer's information network. He then realises. "Reporters?" He echoes.

"They wanted to know how a non-soldier stood a chance against Scar." Arc complains. "Or If I knew anything more than they did about the Elrics or you or Scar himself and I don't like those questions. They should ask you. not me."

"Soldiers aren't supposed to talk about their missions without superior's express commands." the Führer says. "That's why they're targeting you, as a civilian."

"Exactly. Not that I like talking about nearly having my guts splattered across a wall..." Volke mumbles.

"Exactly." The Führer smiles at Arc. "you could get away from the reporters, both newspaper and radio, if you became a state alchemist. You certainly have talent enough for it."

Arc stares at him. "Ahh... sorry sir, not that interested."

Volke drops a bowl on Arc's face. "What are you saying?" He hisses at the man.

Arc's next words were muffled by the bowl. "Exactly what it sounds like." he shoves the bowl off his face. "Sorry, sir, but I'm not interested in being a state alchemist." for a second he looked like he was scrambling for an excuse under the Führer's eye. "Besides, it would hardly be fair if you initiated me... the exams are half the year away, sir."

Bradley nods. "That is true..." He seems to be thinking. "Then it's settled! Colonel, I'll leave you in charge of Mr. Shaon."

Volke sits up in an attention position. "Sir?"

"When the time comes, I will ask you again, Arc." The Führer states, smiling lightly. "Until then, I'd ask if you spend time with Colonel Mikawa."

Arc blinks at him. His expression would not have changed if someone had slapped him with a fish. "Say what now? confused, sir."

Volke steps on Arc's face, smiling nervously at the Führer. "U-Understood, sir!" He says, saluting awkwardly. Volke shoves Arc back under the bed. Arc gives a muffled yelp about his nose.

Bradley frowns lightly, but only for a second. "Very well. I'll make arrangements for Mr. Shaon to have a living allowance paid into your account, Colonel." Bradley stands, causing Volke to salute again. Armstrong salutes as well. Arc stays under the bed. The Führer leaves the room.

Volke relaxes and then pulls Arc from under the bed. "You do realise who that was, right?" He growls.

"the leader of the country." Arc says, smiling. He's working on the shark-like bit. "By the way, I found 50 cenz."

Volke sighs. "You could've shown a little respect, then. The King was offering you a chance to become a State Alchemist. Not many people have that honour."

"I don't want to be someone's pet." Arc says sourly. the metal curling on his shoulders shifts and then runs through his hair. he doesn't seem to notice.

Volke's expression darkens. "Despite public opinion, we are not dogs." He mumbles.

"You're right." Arc says, and smiles. "I've seen them treated better."

Within a second, Volke's hand is on Arc's collar. "Why you...!"

Maj. Armstrong attempts to pull the two apart, most likely succeeding. "Forgive my intrusion, sir. But this is hardly the place to fight!" Which is a good thing, because the metal coils under Arc's shirt were moving freely in the air about his head.

"Right.. right..." Arc drops his smile. "So, how's this supposed to work?"

"I'll have to get my hands on a two-bedroomed place. Which is hard in Central... Maybe if we move to East City or somewhere..." Volke seems eager to change the subject from the 'dogs of the military' argument.

"Couches aren't objectionable." Arc says, shifting away from Armstrong, who watches the two of them carefully, and silently. the metal coils about his shoulders again and more or less goes dormant.

"Well, if that's the case, I can stay in my old place..." He looks to Arc. "If you really don't mind the sofa?"

"If I have a blanket, and a pillow, and no leak dripping on me, it'd be more than fine." Arc stretches a little. His arms don't go all the way one would expect them too.

Armstrong blinks. "Are you injured, Mr. Shaon?"

Volke blinks. "Wait...No. I don't think he's..." Volke takes note of the metal coiling around the man's upper arm. "It's the metal, right?"

"Three points." Arc makes a little crowd cheering noise, smirking. "Yes. Forgive me if I have no intention of showing you the rest of it." Volke has a rather pissed off look on his face at the sarcastic tone Arc is assuming.

As does Volke's. "No, no. That's fine, Major. I'm sure Führer meant for me to begin my duty after I recover." Arc mutters something about hospital beds really not being his type, and he manages to start Armstrong on his way out the door.

"Right. Well, I'll meet you at the hotel we met each other in, then. Doctors said I should be out tomorrow at the earliest."

"Right..." Arc looks like he's mental mapping.

"Do not worry, Mr. Shaon, I shall escort you there!" Armstrong gets a grip on Arc's arm, and the man is pulled from the room.


End file.
